Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

[aeflo]

just had a really nice YM session. really love this tea.

[Xell]

Got many different teas from relatives in Kagoshima, discovered one nice kukicha. Before this i thought about kukicha just as a lower grade of teas, but i was wrong. Nice deep aroma with nutty flavor and i could easy get out few infusion of this tea each time. Need to try more of this kind of tea.

[Proinsias]

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Kanro gyokuro from Ippodo. It's got quite a kick to it, I feel like a small child on espresso.

[debunix]

Gu Zhu Zi Sun from Norbu again today. I am brewing it in my Petr Novak kyusu, because I really love the effect of that iron rich clay with this tea. My shiboridash is out of action today because I'm trying to fill in those gaps with more JB weld prior to seeing whether the gold leaf I've acquired will work to complete the repair nicely enough.

[intelligen_tea_a]

I'm drinking Meng Ding Gan Lu (Sweet Dew) from Seven Cups. I'm using a 150mL gaiwan. Their version of this tea comes from Sichuan Province. It is 80% buds with some tender leaves. The aroma is heavenly, and the flavor is truly sweet. I am in green tea heaven right now

[SlientSipper]

An Earthy green Mao Feng 1st Flush. From Plymoth.
Not bad not bad at all.

[NOESIS]

Kyo no Tsuyu sencha from Maiko. Lovely stuff.

[debunix]

I think I let my lovely Tai Ping Hou Kui from Jingteashop sit too long. I not enjoying the same brightness of flavor I so enjoyed when I first bought it. I need to be more disciplined about all my green teas, not just the senchas. So frustrating when a brilliant tea becomes ordinary through abuse.

[aeflo]

just opened a bag of Sencha Takumi from zencha. lovely stuff so far

[wyardley]

Liu an gua pian today (gift from a friend from Anhui). Not usually a big green tea drinker, but I'm enjoying this one.

[AdamMY]

Aoi Sencha from O-cha, in my Woodfired Eiichi Yunomi.

[brlarson]

Finishing the last of my Hibiki-an traditional shincha. Now I only have 690 grams of shincha remaining

[JRS22]

On the 7th infusion of some Ming Qiana An Ji Bai Cha from Seven Cups. I enjoy steeping my Chinese greens in a glass gaiwan with the lid off so I can admire the leaves in the water (side and top views) while waiting to drink the tea.

[debunix]

Supreme Liu An Gua Pian from Dragon Tea House

This is a pouch that sat sealed for many months as I worked my way through too many other teas bought around the same time. I've been trying to be more disciplined about my green teas the same way I have about my greener oolongs and senchas, not opening a bunch at once and having all degrade significantly before I finish them, but despite being sealed, this one may have suffered for it.

The leaves are a deep green, darker than the average long jing, but also more or less long, thin, and while not completely flattened, not curly either. The scent is reminiscent of fukamushi sencha--sweet, deep, vegetal, with a hint of cucumber. Tantalizing!

4.8 grams in my Petr Novak iron-rich kyusu this morning, preheated, and now the aroma of the heated leaves is more like sweet peas.

Flash rinse with filtered tap water about 180 degrees: not much there in the wash. It's not that there aren't hints of deliciousness, but it really is super dilute, even for my tea-wimp's palate. With that in mind, I'll do the first infusion proper longer, perhaps a minute.

1 minutes, 150 degrees: sweet peas, vegetal, but an astringent finish, that reminds me of an overcooked vegetable.

30 seconds, 180 degrees: went hotter and shorter to try to bring out the sweet over the overcooked vegetable taste, and didn't quite succeed.

I'm not sure if this unpleasant vegetable flavor is related to the heating of the leaf during processing, or is due to the tea sitting too long before drinking, but it definitely is something I recognize and dislike in many green teas. It is not present in the bag of dried leaf, but comes out as soon as the leaf hits the preheated brewing vessel, before it's even wetted.

I'm going to switch to a porcelain gaiwan, in case that makes a difference, and will prepare it with a cooler start. The flash start is something I read about in a blog a few months ago, and it's really been lovely with long jing and Gu Zhu Zui Sun, so I thought I'd try it here, but perhaps this tea does not want it.

2 grams in small porcelain gaiwan, infusions about 75 mL water.

145 degrees, 30 seconds, a little better in flavor profile--brought out more sweetness, but too light from the short infusion.

I'll stick with 30 seconds next infusion, because the now-wetted leaves will give more in this one even with the same infusion time.

30": still can't separate the sweet flavor--and I do get the sense of melon--from the overcooked and astringent vegetable. Bummer.

160 degrees, 30 seconds: no real change.

Last gasp: 212 degrees, 30 seconds: astringency with edges of the sweetness.

It's frustrating. It looks good, the leaf smells terrific, but I can't make this one really pleasant. I feel like I've failed the tea. Oh well. Since this is a classic tea, I'll try it again one day, but I'll get a small sample and drink it right away to give it the best chance.

[Tobias]

Supreme Liu An Gua Pian from Dragon Tea House

I bought that recently and I wasn't too impressed with it either but it was my first time I tried an LAGP. Have you tried it before and if so, how does it compare to other vendors offerings?

At least it did a good work curing my nausea I had last week, just one cup cured it almost instantly.